


The arcade cabinet

by Gaia_bing



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Arcades, First Meetings, Halloween story, M/M, Non-Serum Steve Rogers/Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes | Shrinkyclinks, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Supernatural Elements, based on an urban legend, thief Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 10:17:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12297144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaia_bing/pseuds/Gaia_bing
Summary: It wasn't that the videogame wasn't working,It was just waiting for the right player.





	The arcade cabinet

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! Just a little Halloween tale for you all to enjoy. :)

There was a videogame cabinet that resided at an arcade.

  
Now, before you say that this is the most common thing in the world and wasn't worthy of being talked about, this particular videogame cabinet was actually a very uncommon thing.

  
It had suddenly appeared on the doorsteps of _"SHIELD Games"_ , a local arcade place down into the more nefarious streets of Brooklyn, like a orphan baby abandoned by its mother toward the closest church that she could find. It was a bit of a beast, with its name _"The Winter Soldier"_ , its silver and black colors and military motifs quickly grabbing the attention to anyone who glanced at it.

  
At least, it would have grabbed the attention of _"SHIELD Games"_ ' very few clients...

  
If anybody could actually make heads or tails of this thing.

  
Nobody knew who'd sent it, nobody knew how it got to New York and more curiously...

  
Nobody knew how to play it.

  
Not that it was a difficult game or in a untranslatable language, it was literally _impossible_ to play.

  
They tried everything to get it going: metal coins, paper bills, plastic cards, hacking it, rewiring it, nothing would work. The owner of the arcade, an eye-patched man by the name of Nick Fury, paid good money to get some of the best of the best in their line of works, even in the shady ones, to try and decipher what the hell was going on with this mysterious machine.  
But, even the tops of the top couldn't do anything, as the cabinet would just sit there, taunting them by refusing to reveal its hidden potential underneath its seemingly forever black screen.

  
And so, _"The Winter Soldier"_ was left inside a darkened corner of the arcade, pretty much given up by Nick Fury, pretty much forgotten by everyone else that came and went to play with the other games the place had to offer and that they could actually play, collecting dust on every parts of itself as the months started to go by.

  
The whole thing stayed that way, until one night...

  
*****************

  
Steve Rogers grinned as he dropped down from the vents that he'd just crawled into and looked around the place.

  
An arcade! Why hadn't he thought of this before? This was an infinitely better money source than the now scarce telephone booth or the occasional vending machine that he would encounter.

He'd just hit the freakin' jackpot!

  
_At least_ , he thought to himself, _if whoever owned the place hadn't collected the makings of the day just yet_.

  
But still, it was better to know and find nothing than to be forever be in the dark about it all and so he took out his tool of choice for the evening: a lock-pick and began to go to work.

  
Maybe he could finally eat something more than just a chocolate bar or piece of candy and finally put some damn meat on his frail body with what he was about to collect.

  
It was about an half-hour inside his dubious job that Steve finally noticed it.

  
He'd been going to unplugged machine to unplugged machine, his pointy piece of iron in hand, doing the magic he'd become so good at doing ever since he'd ran away from the last foster home he'd been dumped into only a year beforehand and collecting all of the shiny goodies that the avid gamers that had passed by the place had left behind.

  
And so far, just with the _"Mortal Kombat II"_ and _"Centipede"_ cabinets alone, he'd made a stolen income of over five bucks. A very pretty sum, if he'd say so himself.

  
He was about to go to the _"Street Fighter III"_ machine, when a a sudden glow passing by his face grabbed his attention.  
Turning his head toward a dark corner of the place, Steve became confused and baffled by what he was seeing.

  
Didn't arcades usually unplug their cabinets for the night, just like every one he'd seen so far around here, so that they did not overheat and were ready to play with by the next morning?

  
If so then, why did this one was still on? Why was it still working?

  
And why did it look so damn _inviting_?

  
After about a five minute debate with himself, Steve's curiosity got the better of him and putting his lock-pick and amassed loot inside his coat pockets, he made his way towards the source of the white source of light that was shining in his direction like a welcoming beacon.

  
_"The Winter Soldier"_ , _that's not the name of a game I've ever seen before_ , Steve thought to himself as he sat on a stool that he'd borrowed from another nearby cabinet.

  
**"Welcome to the game! Press any button to start."** it read on the screen.

  
Doing just as the machine instructed him to, Steve reared back in surprise as the display on the arcade monitor suddenly changed and a piece of animation began to play in front of him.

  
Huh? He was allowed to play just like that? No round pieces of metal or special cards were needed to get it going? Oh well, a free game was a free game and the opportunist that Steve was, he seized the occasion by the balls.

  
What he saw astounded him.

  
Even though it was a videogame that he was watching, Steve knew he'd never seen such a _gorgeous_ man before:

  
Long, just-under-the-shoulders brown hair, a bulky body hidden underneath a black tactical suit, a metal arm seemingly shining onto the player's face made the whole package tragic, yet alluring. Devastating, yet beautiful. Horrifying, yet desirable all at the same time.

  
And Steve Rogers couldn't be more smitten, even if he'd tried.

  
The story that was being displayed before him was of someone apparently named Bucky Barnes. He'd been in World War II and, after a grave accident involving a train and some snow, had become a captive of an evil Nazi-like group named Hydra, who'd intended to use the now brainwashed and called _"Winter Soldier"_ to accomplish some of their nefarious deeds.

  
And this was how the game started, with Bucky Barnes strapped to what looked like a dentist chair, after being electroshocked for what seemed like an eternity, looking dazed and confused to the world, and the words:

  
**"HELP HIM"**

  
Appearing in big and white letters in front of it all.

  
Steve looked down to see which of the two buttons or the joystick that was on the cabinet would do the trick...

  
And found _nothing_.

  
What in the world? He could have sworn that he'd seen them only a minute ago! What the hell was happening?

  
And why did in place of the buttons placement, now stood what looked like to be a microphone and a speaker?

  
Despite the strange occurrence, the words **"HELP HIM"** kept flashing in front of his face over and over again, as if telling him that time was of the essence and he needed to get to the task at hand and _fast_.

  
So, shrugging his shoulders at pretty much nobody, Steve leaned his face over the microphone that had seemingly appeared out of thin air and with an uncertain voice, called out:

  
"H-Hello?"

  
The man on the monitor blinked several times and shook his head, as if trying to rid himself of his dizziness, and to the blond man's complete shock, turned his head, seemingly staring right at the screen...

  
Smiled,

  
And a whisper was heard through the speaker:

  
_"You came."_

  
"Y-yes, yes I came." stammered out Steve through the mic, now a bit spooked by what was going on.

  
This was still a part of the game, right? The Winter Soldier hadn't just personally smiled at him, right?

  
The man on the screen, as if he was noticing the blond's man now frightened face, undid the straps he'd been tied underneath and got up from the chair. He slowly approached closer and said with a more sure, but still gentle voice:

  
"Don't worry, I'm not here to harm you."

  
"You're not?" Steve called out inside the microphone.

  
"No, of course not, silly." Bucky responded with a slight laugh.

  
And Steve would have thought this whole thing was part of what seemed to be a very advanced piece of programming and would have continued on as if this was still just a silly piece of entertainment...

  
If Bucky's smile hadn't suddenly disappeared from his animated face and looking down at the floor, he hadn't been the one stammering out now:

  
"I've...I've been waiting for you, _Steve_."

  
This made the man in question stagger back a couple of feet, the stool that he'd been sitting down on crashing down on the floor with a loud _thud_.

  
"What-what the hell? Who are you? What are you? How do you know my name?!" he practically shouted at the man- no, _the_ _bunch of computer codes_.

  
Because there was no way that the man in the screen,

  
The man that his heart was yearning for just by staring at his animated figure, but was now completely shaking him to his very core,

  
Was _real_.

  
This was just a game. A game he'd made a _grave_ mistake trying out.

  
He walked a few steps to the side of the machine, toward wherever this damn thing was plugged, prepared to give it the black screen treatment all of the other machines had been given earlier that evening, when the truth finally shown itself right in his face:

  
The cord of the cabinet was laying limply onto the floor, far away from any kind of electrical socket.

  
_"The Winter Soldier"_ had been unplugged this entire time.

  
Whatever was happening right now...

  
Wasn't coming from _any_ part of _any_ videogame.

  
_"St-Steve? Are you still there? Can you hear me?"_ he heard a faint voice say.

  
Swallowing loudly, Steve returned to the front of the machine.

  
"Y-yeah, I can hear you." he whispered and despite not being near the microphone, Bucky still smiled like he heard him.

  
"Good. Then you can help me." the man on the screen said.

  
"Help-help you? H-how?" Steve asked, his body now shaking from head to toe.

  
Bucky's face became reassuring once more. "I know all about you, Steve Rogers. No mother, no father. Never noticed, never cared for, never appreciated. Having to steal to eat, having to squat to survive? This isn't the life that you wanted for yourself, right?" he asked.

  
Steve slowly shook his head. His body suddenly stopped trembling. "No, no it isn't." he answered, looking down at the floor in shame.

  
Bucky's smile reappeared as he said:"Then help me beat Hydra. Be the hero you've always deserved to be. Be the man you've always desired to become. Be the one....be the one that I will love until the end of the line."

  
Steve looked back up and blinked away tears. " _Love_?" was all he asked.

  
Bucky nodded, tears shining inside his eyes too: "Yes, _love_. And all you have to do..." he said as he extended his metallic hand...

  
Which went right through the screen and was now being brandished right in front of the blond man.

  
_"...is to come here."_

  
And Steve, for the first time since he came face-to-face with _"The Winter Soldier"_...

  
Smiled.

  
******************

  
There is a videogame cabinet that resides at an arcade.

  
While it is a very common type of game, it is the most popular one in the entire state of New York.

  
It is situated at "SHIELD Games", owned by a very delighted Nick Fury.

  
With its black, red, white and blue colors and its military motifs,

  
_"Captain America and The Winter Soldier"_   has certainly grabbed "SHIELD Games"' now many, **many** clients' attention,

  
All of them ready to help an animated bulky man with a metal arm and an animated muscled man wearing a mask bring an evil Nazi-like group named Hydra right to its knees,

  
And let them love one another until the end of the line. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is the urban legend this story was inspired by:
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybius_(urban_legend)


End file.
